Ca Rezzonico
Ca Rezzonico
Magnificent Venetian palace
Ca Rezzonico
At Ca’ Rezzonico, you can step into the opulent world of 18th-century Venice. The palace showcases sumptuous period rooms, paintings by Canaletto, Tiepolo and Longhi, exquisitely crafted furniture, sparkling Murano glass chandeliers, and lively depictions of everyday scenes from the Venetian nobility – offering a vivid glimpse into the city’s refined and elegant past.
The Positives:
Beautiful palace with fantastic furnishings. Ceiling paintings, artworks, including many by Tiepolo.
The Negatives:
Something felt missing.
Tip:
Get the audio guide! It's a tablet that guides you through the palace.
Last Modified: 20.04.2026 | Céline
Ca Rezzonico
Tickets
The datails
at a glance
Opening hours
1 November to 31 March:
Monday, Wednesday to Sunday: 10.00 – 17.00 h
1 April to 31 October:
Monday, Wednesday to Sunday: 10.00 – 18.00 h
Last entry is one hour before closing.
Closed on Tuesdays.
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Museumspasses
GYG: The Museum Pass including other add ons EUR 63
-> Learn more
T: Museum Pass for EUR 50
-> Buy Pass
Ca Rezzonico
Photo Gallery
What is there
to see?
Set directly on the Grand Canal, this is yet another of Venice’s important palazzi. Unlike Ca’ Pesaro, however, this is not an art museum but rather a historical journey through the splendid rooms of a Baroque palace, where works of art form part of the setting rather than the focus.
After entering, your visit begins with the excellent audio tablet, and you make your way up the grand main staircase. You arrive straight into the palace’s most representative space: the salon. Large in proportion to the rest of the building and richly decorated, this room once served as the family’s ballroom. It was designed by Giorgio Massari, who reworked the original plans by the earlier architect Longhena. There is no other room quite like it anywhere else in Venice.
As Tiepolo was not in Venice at the time, the ceiling decoration was entrusted to Giambattista Crosato and Girolamo Mengozzi Colonna. Together they created a magnificent illusionistic architecture that opens the room towards the heavens.
In the Hall of the Wedding Allegory, however, you will find a genuine work by Tiepolo. Remarkably, the ceiling was completed in just twelve days. In this fresco, a graceful woman floats through the sky – a symbol of virtue or fame. Opposite her is a young man, probably a member of the Rezzonico family, shown as the groom. Around them flutter cherubs, laurel wreaths and drifting clouds – everything radiant and full of movement. The fresco celebrates the Rezzonico family and presents the wedding as a moment of dazzling ascent – almost like a Rococo-era advertisement.
You will then pass through a series of further rooms, including the Pastel Room, the Tapestry Room, and the Throne Room, whose ceiling was also painted by Tiepolo. There is even a dedicated Tiepolo Room, where you can admire yet another of his ceiling decorations. Many more beautiful rooms follow, adorned with Murano glass chandeliers, paintings, sculptures and elegant furnishings.
On the second floor, you will finally come across a small but noteworthy art collection. Here you can see works by Canaletto and Francesco Guardi, as well as an entire sequence of black-and-white fresco sketches created by Tiepolo for the Rezzonico family’s villa in Zianigo.
Ca Rezzonico
A bit of History
On the site of today’s Ca’ Rezzonico originally stood two houses belonging to the noble Bon family. In 1649, Filippo Bon commissioned the Baroque architect Baldassare Longhena to build a magnificent palace. Longhena began by gutting and unifying the existing buildings and erecting a new façade facing the canal. He died in 1682, having completed only the first floor. Construction then came to a long halt – partly due to Longhena’s death, but also because the Bon family had overstretched themselves financially and could no longer continue the project.
It was not until 1750 that the story resumed: the banker and textile merchant Giovanni Battista Rezzonico purchased the half-finished structure. He wanted the importance and wealth of his family to be reflected in the building, so he commissioned Giorgio Massari to complete the palace. Massari largely followed Longhena’s original design, though parts of the structure were so unstable that only certain areas could be preserved. He subtly adapted the façade to contemporary taste: replacing heavy columns with more slender ones, removing massive bases and adding oval windows. This gave the building a lighter, more elegant appearance with a hint of Rococo.
By 1757, the interior works were almost complete when Giovanni Battista Rezzonico died. Shortly afterwards, his son Carlo was elected Pope Clement XIII – a great stroke of fortune for the family, who now used the palace for representative purposes. Carlo took many artworks with him to Rome but left the building to his brother Aurelio. For the wedding of Aurelio’s son Ludovico, the ceilings were decorated by Tiepolo and other artists.
After the fall of the Venetian Republic, the Rezzonico family fell into financial difficulty. The last Rezzonico died in 1810, and the palace changed hands several times.
In 1906, Baron Carlo Leone Hirschel de Minerbi bought the palace, as well as Palazzo Grimani. He transformed Ca’ Rezzonico into a social meeting place, hosting elaborate costume balls, candlelit dinners and concerts. However, during the Great Depression he encountered financial problems and was forced to sell. From 1931 onwards, the City of Venice entered into negotiations to acquire the property, and in 1935 the palace finally passed into municipal ownership and was transformed into the Museum of 18th-Century Venice.
Official website of Ca Rezzonico: https://carezzonico.visitmuve.it/
Text and image rights: © Céline Mülich, 2024–2026
Same press email as Ca’ Pesaro. As there was already no reply, we have decided not to send an enquiry to Ca’ Rezzonico.
